Accidental Kindness

I remain in my car to hear the end of a song on my CD. Mother in car next to mine thanks me for being patient while she unbuckles the seat beat for her young daughter and helps her out of the car. Channeling my higher self, I smile in gratitude for her gratitude.

Why Would Anyone Want to Write a Book?

You think you want to write a book but you’re looking for the reason to justify the perceived stress, the late nights at the computer, the possibility of failure. I’m pleased to present “Ken Wachsberger’s 34 Reasons to Write a Book”—bulleted, not numbered, because no reason is more important than any other. Mine isn’t the only such list floating around the Internet. Some include upwards of a hundred or more reasons to write a book. Many are redundant, slight variations of previous reasons on the same list.

I probably have a few redundancies here, too, if you look closely enough, though when I came up with them they all seemed different.

Anyhow, here they are:

• Career advancement
• Respect in the business world
• To pass along a legacy to the next generation
• To share success secrets and life lessons
• To increase your number of clients
• For self-discovery
• To escape traumas of the past
• So you will be perceived as an authority
• Just for the fun of it
• Because it’s part of your marketing strategy
• Out of intellectual curiosity
• So you can get back at childhood bullies without using their real names
• To prove to yourself that you can do it
• You’re looking for a good reason to stay up all night drinking coffee
• Because you have a lot to say but lack verbal skills
• To express a point of view to a larger audience
• Because you got the flow (that’ll get you 5% of the way there; now the work begins)
• Because you’re in academia (think “publish or perish”)
• Because an undefined force is compelling you
• So people will write about you (be careful: you may not like what they write) and interview you in the media
• To clear the clutter of chaotic thoughts from your mind and figure out what you’re really thinking
• To prove to your high school principal that you will amount to something someday
• For back-of-the-room sales after public speaking events
• To appease your inner voice
• Credibility
• Because someone told you that being an author is sexy
• Prestige
• To get on Oprah
• So you can write off office supplies and travel expenses on your taxes (see your accountant first)
• Because your life story is marketable
• To find out the end of the story
• Because you’re funny and you want to make people laugh
• So people will think you’re smarter than you probably are
• You can’t put your finger on it; you just know you do

Which one fits your desire? Drop me a line at ken@azenphonypress.com if you’re ready to get started. I’ll help you through the often-intimidating process and then, if you want, edit your finished manuscript. Your life will change once you make the commitment—for the good, I predict, like mine did and those who worked with me on their stories.

If none of these reasons are compelling to you and you think you can’t write a book without a clear reason, knock yourself out and search the web for a longer list. But the truth is, you don’t need to define your reason. If you’ve got an inkling, get out the ink (or computer). You have a book inside you. Why aren’t you writing it?

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